How to stop new hires quitting due to poor training and communication

There is nothing more frustrating for the employers and HR than to spend weeks or months recruiting a new employee who, at the end of the day, quits his or her job anyway.

And such situations occur very frequently. According to BambooHR’s onboarding survey, about 30% of all new employees leave their job within the first six months.

Most of the reasons why people quit so quickly result from a poor digital onboarding process. In other words, companies do not pay enough attention to master the adaptation of new hires.

The respondents listed, among others, the following elements which would have convinced them to stay:

• 23% of people did not receive clear guidelines to what their responsibilities were
• 21% would prefer more effective training
• 17% said a friendly smile or helpful co-worker would have made all the difference
• 12% hoped for more acknowledgment for their contribution
• 9% required more attention from managers and co-workers

The good news is that most of the above reasons can be easily eliminated. Let’s outline a few recommendations to retain an employee for more than just a few months.

Set clear expectations in advance

Research showed that poorly-defined goals and lack of information are highly demotivating and are the top reason why people leave. Employees need to have a clear perspective on what their tasks are, what they are expected to do, and how their role fits the company’s operation.

Create a biweekly plan focused on newcomers acquiring the necessary set of skills. For instance, employees should learn the terminology, master the to be used tools, and get to know the individual teams within two weeks.

They should also have a point of contact to find answers to their questions about the company, corporate culture, and job. A digital onboarding platform, such as AppLearn Adopt, can easily do the job.

Invest in functional training

Newcomer training within the first months is worth the investment despite the temporary decrease in productivity and higher costs. Proper training lays the foundations on which you can build later.

After the first months, there is often not enough time for the employee to spend on training.

Digital onboarding using pop-up windows is an innovative approach. The bubbles become part of the employees’ everyday computer work and allow them to learn how to use your corporate software along the way. It is the interactivity that makes such solutions more memorable. Furthermore, the bubbles make the process more efficient, ease the trainers’ burden, and reduce training costs.

Communication is the key

Employees should feel happy and engaged at your company from the very beginning. Almost 1 out of 10 new hires listed as a reason why they quit the job the lack of attention from the managers. Therefore, it is essential to assign a colleague to every newcomer to help them with social adaptation and professionally teach him or her how the processes and tools work.

Communication is the key to every strong relationship. Schedule your face-to-face meetings on a weekly or biweekly basis. At the meetings, ask about the training process and find out what works and what doesn’t. Provide also broader context: why certain rules had to be introduced and what purpose they serve.

Make onboarding more efficient

In case a newcomer decides to leave the job, the company loses the investment spent on his or her recruitment and training. Furthermore, you need to spend more money to find his or her replacement. Employee Benefit News suggests that it costs as much as 33% of a worker’s annual salary to replace.

The solution is to make the onboarding process more efficient and significantly save time and money. This can be achieved by automating the training using a digital platform, such AppLearn Adopt.

This platform can reduce the number of face-to-face training sessions thanks to digital training, your employees will not have to attend any group classes. They can learn how to work with the corporate software sitting behind the desk.